Er Côf Am Shiva

I will hold you in my arms forever sweetie pie.

Llwydi

So I have been making my own bread for several years now, and I've never had a problem with bread going mouldy before. I have always used Allinson Dried Active Yeast except for a few times when I have made sourdough bread. Anyhow, the other day I knew I was out of yeast and I was in the shop and was in a bit of a hurry so I bought some Hovis Fast Action Yeast. The bread is reasonably tasty, although much less "crumbly" and better suited for slicing and sandwiches than my normal bread -- but now, I have just noticed -- it has gone mouldy!

I have had bread that got dry and hard and stale, but I have never had home-made bread go mouldy on me before. Suffice to say, it is stored in the same conditions as usual, etc. So I go to investigate and I notice that the yeast I bought contains "a blend of dried yeast and bread improvers." Methinks the improvers are the cause of the mould. Anybody else have this experience?

Ac eto...

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Hefyd:

Sori, sa i wedi teimlo fel ysgrifennu lot yn diweddar...

Sioe Frenhinol Cymru

Two exciting things happened yesterday at the Royal Welsh -- Bridget & Jon got an 8th and a 9th with their Texels which they are quite pleased with...

...and, more importantly, I got to see the little ram lamb that we sold last autumn! He is all grown up now!

Da a drwg...

The bad news is that the hen has vanished as have most of her eggs. No signs of struggle or feathers, so not sure what got her, but she is definitely gone... :(

The good news is that Shiva is still well enough to be catching little mice -- okay, I suppose it's bad news for the mouse, but it's good news for Shiva, and she's the important one IMO!

Ar Werth

We have decided to sell Bwlchyrhyd. If you're interested in buying it, please contact our estate agent.

Diweddaru

I just spotted the little bantam off the eggs so went over and had a look -- she is sitting on 11 eggs!

Yr Iâr

I know this looks like a photo of a bunch of reeds, but if you look closely, you will see the little bantam hen in the middle of it. She vanished on Wednesday night, but was back Thursday morning for food -- and then vanished again. Yesterday I spotted her outside and went out and followed her -- I can only assume she is sitting on eggs as she hasn't moved from this spot since. Fingers crossed that the fox doesn't get her...

Gwlân a nyddu

I have been saying for some time that I am going to spin the wool from the sheep, but, to be honest, I haven't got the time. There's now 6 fleeces from last year plus 8 from this year, and they take up a lot of space.

Spinning is going to have to wait for another day. The wool is getting sent off the the mill to be spun and to come back as yarn for knitting in 3-6 months...

Gwydyr

The big exciting news today is that I finally managed to get glass cut for the windows for the shed:

In other news, Denzil, who used to live here, came by with some things from his greenhouse -- so I think I will be spending tomorrow transplanting and repotting things!

The peacock came to visit AGAIN (but I am not complaining because he is so beautiful!):

And, this one is a bit sad -- there have been some blackbirds nesting in the clematis on the front of the house, and we've been watching them fly back and forth and feel their little chicks -- and this afternoon, Shiva killed the daddy blackbird... Bad Shiva... AND, she has shown no remorse...

Cneifio

Yes, it's that time of year again... Unfortunately, it's a bit harder to take photos that show what's going on with black sheep than it is with white sheep, but here I am, in action...

And the sheep, now all fully shorn, and looking like goats again. Check out Rhodri on the left (with the horns) -- he looks so much more elegant now!

Diolch yn fawr iawn i Bridget a Jon am helpu!

Scrabble (yn Gymraeg)

From the New York Times to S4C (fast-forward to 4:20)...

(I was hoping to actually put the video here, but unfortunately technology defeated me, so you will have to click the S4C link above, and download it yourself -- but if you are using the new version of RealPlayer, you will have the option to save it to your computer -- because it will only be up on the S4C site until next Wednesday! If anybody out there knows how to convert a *.ivr file to something useful, please get in touch...)

Ffenestri

Bart's peacock has spent nearly all day here -- not quite sure who or what he's trying to attract -- surely it can't be me!

And now for something slightly less spectacular -- I have made a window for the shed (yes, I know it's missing the glass). Bonus points to anybody who can correctly identify which of these two windows I made and which one Dave the builder made... :)

Y Tywydd

The weather here was pretty hideous over the weekend -- extremely windy -- but luckily we only lost part of a tree:

It's now a very small bonfire and an equally small quantity of firewood...

In other news, here's the white sheep of the family...

And Bridget thinks that we have two boy chicks, two girl chicks, and one undecided chick...

Also, Bart's peacock came for another visit today -- I tried to take a photo when he had his tail open, but he kept closing it by the time I got the camera out!

Pethau

The outdoor strawberries are covered in flowers -- so if I can succeed in keeping the birds and the slugs off them, we might have a big crop!

We put up the internal wall in the shed -- so as you can see, it's not one big shed like it looks like from the outside, but a pair of semi-detached sheds... :)

Here's another picture of the lettuces because the last photo was so crap. I pick myself a bowlful of leaves every day and they just keep growing back!

This is a melon plant -- I've got 5 of them, so perhaps I will get lucky and have melons???

Almost time for the rose to get transplanted back onto the shed...

We've also finished the fascia boarding stuff on the shed, and put up one of the doors -- so it is starting to look a bit more finished finally...

And these are the strawberries in the greenhouse, which I think are just about ready to eat!

Pwy yw'r rhain?

The exciting news of the week is that we have some new sheep... A friend of ours is retiring from farming and although he has sold most of his sheep at mart, he wanted the last few to go to a good home (not quite sure if we qualify!) so here they are:

It will be an interesting experience having some sheep that are not Balwens...

In other news, Tony came to visit, and as you can see, he very much enjoyed feeding Sausage!

Malwod

Finally got my camera back yesterday (and I also bought another camera, but that's another story...) so here's a lovely picture of the slugs I caught this morning before breakfast:

Why I am so desperate to kill slugs you ask? Aside from the fact that they are evil horrible creatures of destruction, I want to protect my lovely little lettuces who were good enough to give me my first salad of the season today -- fresh from the garden with a twist of black pepper and a drizzle of British rapeseed oil...

We have finally had a bit of sun this week, but up until now, it's been a pretty horrible spring. This lilac, which only just really started flowering a couple of days ago, was in full flower two weeks earlier last year...

One last thought to leave you with -- this just arrived in my inbox -- if you live in the area, please try to come along Monday morning and show your support!

Protest against post office closure in Dryslwyn next Monday

Tony and Madeleine Graf are campaigning against the closure of Dryslwyn Post Office and shop. Tony writes:

We are desperately concerned about the proposed closure of Dryslwyn post office.The proprietor tells us that he cannot afford to continue with the shop/post office which already makes a loss, if the P.O. part is withdrawn. This a decision (to be announced on June 3) which must be challenged and reversed for the following reasons:
- It is the only such facility for more than 5 miles.
- The bus service is infrequent (one might say rare).
- With rising fuel costs many people (particularly older ones) will not be able to afford the extra 10- mile round trip to the nearest alternative.
- 3 others have closed in the surrounding areas in the last few years, which means that this is the last remaining place where people can meet as a community (apart from the pubs). This is so important in a dispersed community where isolation can lead to so many problems, including mental health issues.

The issue here is not about buying stamps, and any proposal to substitute the post office with a peripatetic van will not address the key issue, which is about social cohesion and sustainable development in the local community.

Dryslwyn post office, in common with many rural post offices, is more than a provider of stamps and other post related services, it is a focal point for the community. As such the proposal to close it is flying in the face of Westminster and WAG policy on social cohesion and sustainable communities.

Post peak oil, as we move into energy descent, it will be even more important to retain such services at a local level. Let us not "do a Beeching" on them, and repent at leisure.

Tony has organised a protest to be held outside Dryslwyn post office on Monday 12 May at 10am.

Our MP, Adam Price will be there, together with Assembly members and local councillors, and the Carmarthen Journal will be there with a photographer.

Tony wants to get an impressive number of local people to show we care, so anyone is more than welcome.

Yn yr ardd

Yr Etholiad

My camera is STILL in the shop, so this morning's photo comes courtesy of my friend John... No, we are not actually voting in the Abbey! But this is just a reminder to everybody to please vote today. If you don't vote, you can't complain when things go wrong later...

Mae oena wedi gorffen

Lambing has now officially finished, and we have four lambs. Here's a photo (taken by Greg's dad) of Rhodri, the proud father...